


To Rouse the Dawn

by stellacanta



Series: (to awaken) A Sleeping Kingdom [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sleeping Beauty Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 17:19:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18529630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacanta/pseuds/stellacanta
Summary: There was a tale that had been spread since the days when the night began to lengthen. It was a tale of a sleeping prince deep within the heart of the kingdom, in its capital, Insomnia. The tale said that the night would break into the dawn whenever the prince awoke.Prompto didn’t think of the old tale when he entered the magnificent city at the heart of the kingdom. He was just looking for shelter from the daemons.





	To Rouse the Dawn

Prompto lived with his dad on the outskirts of Lucis, where one could just see the faintest hints of dawn if they stared hard enough at the horizon, the deep indigos of the sky fading into a barely perceivable red violet. His dad had laughed at him when he once asked if it was possible to find daylight just by running ever towards the horizon. The older man had said that it didn’t work like that, and the nights were caused by something else. He had wondered out loud if the nights were caused by the same inky black marks that covered half the older man’s back and most of his upper arm, originating at his right shoulder, and Prompto was only given a mysterious smile in return.

“Something like that,” his dad had told him. “The night was caused by magic after all, well more a curse than proper magic, and this?” The older man had rolled up his sleeves and Prompto could see where the ink-like blackness has spread fractal-like over the man’s upper arms, ending right above his elbow. “This is caused by a curse on those who possess magic. A different one that caused the nights to become never-ending.” He had tentatively traced he edges of that dark blob on the man’s skin and received a weak smile in return. “It’s not an illness, dear Prompto, you won’t catch it. Don’t worry.” The man had pressed a soft kiss to his blonde hair before letting his sleeve fall back in place and going back to what he had been doing, marking the end of his conversation.

It was a quiet existence, and quaint despite the daemons that lurked beyond their little cottage and the looks that the other people in town would give them. Prompto knew the man wasn’t his actual father, the man was too young to be his biological dad and, besides, he could still remember a time when the man wasn’t in his life. A time when there was a mousy-haired woman he thought of as mother and a blonde haired man he thought of as father. (Back when there was still day and the nights weren’t quite so long.)

The man had taken him in when he got separated from his parents, and, over time, he had grown to think of him as a father figure. This was much to the chagrin of the man who insisted on being called older brother, or by his proper name.

Still, his life was idyllic as it could be given the situation, and it was all broken one day when he found his dad collapsed on the floor. “Go,” the man told him with a pained grunt, thrusting a packed bag and a flashlight at him. “The curse has taken ahold of me and it’s not safe for you here. I fear-“ There was a another pained grunt and as the man leaned forward, arm clutching his stomach, he could see how dark the skin on the man’s neck had become. It was as black as the endless night and nearly indistinguishable from the dark hair on the man’s head. “Go, and good luck.”

Prompto had wanted to say something, anything, but the man shoved him out the door before he could utter a word and clicked shut behind him. “Go and break the curse, Prompto.” He heard from behind the door. “If anyone can do it, it’s you.” He looked at the bag, heavy with supplies, and the flashlight he had been given. Nodding to himself, he looked away from the horizon that promised dawn and towards the horizon that promised only endless night.

He took a deep breath and set off, never once looking back.

…

Lucis was big, and Lucis was dangerous. It didn’t take long for Prompto to realize that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by foot, at least not quickly and if the daemons didn’t get to him first.

He found an old hunter by the name of Dave in one of the outposts he managed to drag himself to. Prompto wasted no time in asking for a ride when they met.

Dave rubbed his chin and stared at him. “You want a ride deeper into the heart of Lucis? Why? You know the closer that you get to Insomnia, the more daemons you’ll encounter right?”

Prompto smiled brightly and shrugged his shoulders before giving the answer he had been practicing in his head for so long. “Because I wanna see what the rest of Lucis is like.” He held up the camera his dad had thoughtfully packed into the bag. (The bag had contained a lot of useful, and sentimental things only Prompto could care about. He wondered if his dad knew what would happen. He wondered if his dad been secretly stashing things into the bag this whole time.) The ambient light from the headlights of the trunk barely illuminated one of Dave’s eyebrows lifting into his hairline. “I’ve spent so much time on the outskirts that I keep forgetting that not all of Lucis is like that. I mean there’s Lestallum and, oh, I heard that the Disc of Cauth-“

“-you’re not going to be seeing much of Lucis given the unending night, boy,” Dave grunted as he walked towards the driver’s side of the truck. “Disc’s off limits, there’s no lights leading up to it and they’re not gonna let civilians walk up to it given all the daemons that are around.” The hunter stood quizzically with the door the to truck open as Prompto continued to stand in front of the truck’s headlights. “What are you doing,” he said with a grunt. “Get in. I’ll take you at least as far as Lestallum, got business around those parts anyway.”

“Oh! Thank you, sir!” He hopped into the car without much more prompting. Prompto was sure that someone, like his dad, would say something about getting into cars with strangers. Then again, his dad also did kinda send him on this half-baked plan to break a years long curse. So maybe he wouldn’t care.

Prompto hummed to himself and stared out into the inky darkness like he could make out the scenery as they drove off down the road.

…

Lestallum was completely unlike the tiny little town on the outskirts that Prompto had come from. It was vibrant and filled with people from various parts of Lucis. It was bright and well-lit in a way his little town on the outskirts never was. And the scents! His mouth started watering at the scents that lingered in the city from the various food stalls dotted here and there.

In Lestallum, he parted with Dave, who had business to tend to just outside of town.

Prompto clutched his camera tightly in his hands as he wandered though the tight, cobbled streets as if in a daze. Occasionally, he would stop and take a snap of some children playing in a corner here, or some brightly colored lights strung up above some plastic tables there. He spared a few gil for brightly colored dishes that were indeed as delicious as they looked. After an hour of sightseeing and getting to know the city, he decided to finally set out to do what he came here to do. Lestallum was a beautiful city, that he couldn’t deny, but it wasn’t the city that he set out to find. “Now to find someone who’s willing to take me all the way to Insomnia,” he muttered to himself. Or at least, he _thought_ he muttered to himself.

“Why do you want to head to Insomnia?” Prompto jerked his head in the direction of a teenage boy who was sitting in the table next to his. He furrowed his eyebrows. Had that dark-haired teen _always_ been there? He could have sworn the table next to his was empty when he got here. Maybe he just never noticed the guy sit down there? The teen sighed and rested his head on his hand when Prompto didn’t immediately answer. “You know Insomnia’s pretty far from here right? And it’s dangerous? There’s _loads_ of daemons on the road between here and there and-“ The teen squinted at the camera in his hands, which looked a bit strange given the teen was wearing glasses. “-it’d be weird if you’re willing to risk all that just to take pictures of the place, if it’s even still standing.”

Prompto was ready to defend his choice of hobby when the teen’s last comment took him off guard. “Wha- what do you mean if it’s even still standing? Of course, it’d still be standing, why wouldn’t it be?”

The teen shrugged. “Something to do with that place being where all the daemons come, I suppose, and how everyone fled from the city because of it. The never-ending night followed soon after the daemons and- people have nightmares about that place you know. Why would you want to go there when no one wants to _go back_ to that place?”

He took a deep breath.

Thing was, everything the teen had said? It was real. Prompto still had memories and nightmares of being in a crowd of people, all running from _something_. Something with horns and too many teeth. He had memories and nightmares of falling and of feet running above and around him. He could feel the warm breath of _something_ with too many teeth ready to snap him up while he could only stare in terror at its red, red eyes before someone grabbed onto his tiny hands and yanked him to safety, and they were running with the crowd before the nightmare finally broke and he was shaken awake by his dad who was assuring him that it was all a bad dream and he was safe.

Honestly, a part of Prompto didn’t want to head to Insomnia. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid of getting stranded on the road there, never mind what horrors he could find in the capital city itself. Still, if he didn’t go to Insomnia, where could he go? He doubted anyone would let him stay in the village he lived on the outskirts, especially if word got out about what happened to his dad. Prompto took a deep breath. “Because I have to,” he said with a shrug. “Dad wanted me to go there because he thought I could break the curse-“

“-break the curse? Your dad thought you could break the curse?” Prompto tried not to curl up into himself as the teen suddenly pushed himself into standing position and strode over to him. For a teenage boy, the kid sure had a presence when he was angry. “Do you even know what the curse is? What makes you think that you can break it? Don’t you-“

“-my dad thought I could break it. And I-“ He took a shaky breath and looked the teen straight in the eyes. “-I trust my dad. Look, kid, I know I’m not much to look at and you’re right to doubt me. Heck, _I’m_ not even sure that I can break the curse, but if my dad thought-“

“-why wouldn’t you be able to break the curse?” The teen gave him a dubious look and he blinked, baffled by the sudden question.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” the teen said as he looked off into the distance. “It doesn’t mean anything.” Prompto followed the teen’s gaze and noticed he was looking at a trio of kids, two boys and one girl, who were laughing and chattering over something in one of the boy’s hands. The two of them watched the kids in silence for a while before the girl finally said something and the trio parted ways. “Anyway, if you’re serious about heading to Insomnia?” Prompto looked back to the teen at the sudden question and watched as he gestured towards a pair of guys a bit older than Prompto who were looking at something in one of the street stalls, a younger teenage girl was standing somewhat behind him but distracted by something on her phone. “Ask them if they can give you a ride there, tell them-“ The teenager faltered a bit and looked down. “Tell them you’re headed to Insomnia to break the curse and you need their help finding the prince.”

The teen nodded towards him and, without another word, started walking down the street. Prompto stared after him and called out just before the guy could turn a corner and disappear from view. “I’m Prompto by the way! Thanks for the suggestion!” The teen stared at him and inclined his head before he turned behind a brick building that Prompto couldn’t see behind.

He pouted. The guy never gave him his name.

…

“You want to do what,” The big guy in the trio, who had introduced himself as Gladio a moment earlier, screamed into his face when he informed them that he wanted to come with them. (Which? Rude.)

“You’re headed to Insomnia, right? I want to come with you.” Prompto couldn’t help but feel less charitable to the teen who had pointed the trio out to him by the moment. “I was told that-“

“-you needed our help finding the prince and you’re headed there to break the curse,” the bespectacled man who went by Ignis said as he gently pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Are you sure this is a wise choice of action? The road to Insomnia is long and it’s fraught with danger besides.”

“Oh, relax you two,” the only girl in the group, a teen who went by the name of Iris, said as she danced and skipped around Gladio, her older brother, and Ignis. “Prompto said he wanted to come, didn’t he? And he’s coming to break the curse on the prince, how romantic.”

“I don’t know about romantic Iris,” Gladio grumbled as he cast a glance out of the corner of his eye at his younger sister. “It sounds more dangerous-“ Whatever he was going to say was cut off by a grunt as Iris roughly elbowed him in the side before skipping around to behind Prompto and putting her hands on his shoulder.

“Well, _I_ think it sounds romantic, and _I_ think you two should be a _little_ bit more supportive of Prompto trying to break the curse on the prince given what _you two_ have gone through.” Prompto couldn’t see the withering glance that Iris shot the two older men in the group. However, he could see the sheepish look on both their faces. He also had the feeling that a chunk of the conversation had gone over his head (what was this about what those two had gone through and the curse on the prince?) but he wasn’t about to question it when it looked like the group needed a bit more convincing to take him on. “Anyway, I say he comes with us.” Iris forged on when Gladio spluttered and Ignis looked about ready to argue with her. “We’re all headed in the same direction and looking for the prince, so it shouldn’t be a problem to add one extra person.” She fluttered her eyes at her brother and gave him her best puppy eyes. “Please Gladdy?”

“Fine, fine, he can come with us.” Prompto couldn’t help but smile at the pronouncement as Iris cheered behind him. “You really shouldn’t be singlehandedly determining who comes with us like that but if the kid is aware of the risks.”

Ignis sighed as Gladio shrugged and headed off down the street. “Well, welcome to the group Prompto, I apologize that we haven’t been the most gracious of hosts here.”

“Oh that’s fine, Ignis, it’s perfectly understandable,” Prompto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, following Ignis and Gladio leisurely as Iris skipped and hummed behind him. “I know I’m not a lot to look at, and you’re just worried about me.”

“Quite.”

“But it’s okay though, I can take care of myself and- and I’m rather fast, you know. Daemons won’t get me that easily.”

“Best we don’t test that,” Ignis said as he gently guided the two into a hotel. It was a fairly swanky hotel and Prompto couldn’t help but gape at the lobby a bit. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Gladio exchange some words with the receptionist before heading up a stairwell off to the side of the room. “Now, I don’t know if you have a place to stay at, but if you’re traveling with us, I hope you don’t mind terribly if we ask that you stay the night with us? We booked a room with two beds, so, apologies to Iris, but I think you’ll have a share a bed with Iris.”

“Perfectly fine by me,” the teenager chirped before she patted Prompto gently on the shoulder and ran up the stairs after her brother. He watched as Iris all but leaped onto Gladio’s back. The taller man just managed to grab onto her in time before she could slip off. Iris murmured something into her brother’s ear and her brother gave a good-natured sigh as he continued up the stairs with her on his back.

“Well Prompto?”

Prompto looked away from the siblings and towards Ignis who was waiting for his answer with one eyebrow raised. “Nope,” he said shaking his head. “I don’t mind at all.”

…

The four of them headed out of Lestallum early the next morning. Iris complained about being woken up so early, and Prompto simply rubbed his head before he slid out of bed and helped Gladio and Ignis get their things sorted and packed. He whistled when he noticed the car that the trio had, a sleek black convertible with its roof down and a surprisingly big trunk. “You came here in this gorgeous lady,” Prompto asked as he circled the car, trailing his fingers against the smooth surface of the car.

“Yep,” Gladio said with a grunt as he loaded the rest of their gear, plus some extra gear they had picked up for Prompto’s sake, into the trunk before slamming the lid shut. “It’s Ignis’ so you’re going to have to ask him about it if you want to know more.” The man slid into one of the seats into the back and Iris took a seat next to her brother.

Ignis showed up at that moment with a paper bag that he handed to Iris. “Get in,” he told Prompto as he slid into the driver’s seat. “We can’t leave unless you’re in the car.” Sheepishly, Prompto took the passenger seat next to Ignis and they were off. Whatever questions he had about the car died as he felt a cool breeze in his hair.

The lights from Lestallum quickly faded when they drove past the city limits. Any desire of conversation faded with it, and Prompto felt himself dozing off in the never-ending darkness, a cool breeze whispering past his ear.

When he woke, there was a bright light somewhere behind him. Confused, he turned around and gasped when he noticed Gladio reading a thick hardcover in the backseat, Iris holding a flashlight to illuminate the page and half leaning over her brother’s shoulder. “You’re reading,” he spluttered. “Now? While the car is moving? Dude, you’re gonna get carsick!”

“You get used to it after a while,” Gladio said, his head rested against his knuckles.

“Besides, it makes the car ride more fun,” Iris added with a giggle. The beam from the flashlight barely moved.

He watched them for a moment longer before he turned back around, shaking his head as he did so. “I can’t believe them,” he quipped to Ignis. “Reading in the backseat because it makes car rides more fun? Makes them more vomit inducing, more like.”

“I can only assume they don’t get motion sick,” Ignis replied with a wry grin. “Besides, car rides aren’t much fun when you can’t see much of your surroundings.”

Well, there was that, Prompto thought to himself as he looked out to the inky darkness. He fiddled with the camera in his hands as he looked out at the endless road before them, only bits and pieces of the landscape visible in the car’s headlights. He was sure the landscape was beautiful in the daylight, but in the night,  it looked as empty and desolate as any other part of Lucis.

They drove for hours along the lonely road, ignoring the glowing red eyes in the distance, before they finally came to a stop at a haven in the woods. “Don’t pay attention to the eyes,” Gladio said gruffly as he sent Iris and Prompto off with a flashlight towards the haven. “The haven is warded, and they won’t attack you there.”

“Yeah, they won’t attack us _there_ ,” Iris said mockingly with her hands on her hips. “What about on the way there huh? What if they attack us in the middle?”

“Then run,” Ignis advised as he grabbed various things out of the trunk of the car. “Or shine the flashlight at their eyes to blind them. You don’t have any weapons on you.”

Prompto hummed and looked down at the pistol that he managed to cajole Gladio into buying for him. He unholstered it and spun it around a finger. “Well, Iris, I don’t mean to brag but I’m a rather good shot so if something even looks at us the wrong way-“

“-I wouldn’t feel comfortable about you shooting things without having practiced even once,” Ignis interrupted as he slammed down the lid of the trunk, having gotten all the things he needed out of it. “So, run, Gladio and I can handle the daemons.”

Iris stuck out her tongue at her brother and Ignis before she looped an arm around Prompto’s. “No fun, either of you, I guess I’ll just be headed down to the haven with Prompto acting as my knight in shining armor then.” The two shared a chuckle as they walked down to the haven at an unhurried pace. The flashlight trained on the bluish rocks in the distance. Gladio rolled his eyes as he grabbed the heavy camping gear and followed them, Ignis bringing up the rear carrying the rest of their supplies.

Their night at the camp was uneventful. Something they were all grateful for.

…

Prompto found the teenage boy from Lestallum sitting by the campfire on their third night out on the road. Ignis and Gladio were off fighting some daemons that had gotten to close to camp, and Iris was inside the tent, probably sleeping for all intents and purposes. The boy was staring up at the sky. He seemed completely unaffected by the shouts and grunts and snarls in the distance. Fighting, Prompto learned, was loud, but loud also meant the people fighting were alive.

“Didn’t think I’d see you here,” Prompto said as he took the seat besides the boy. “Lestallum getting too boring for you? How did you even get here anyway? Were you following us?”

The teenager looked down from the sky and towards the fire. “You can barely see the stars,” he said in lieu of answering Prompto’s questions, the flames illuminating his pale face and blank expression. “It’s like the night swallowed them up.”

He waited in case the teenager had more to say. When it seemed like he didn’t he shrugged and hugged one knee to himself. “You know how it is, the darkness spread, and the night turned eternal. Not really surprising you can’t see the stars anymore, heck, you can’t even see the moon anymore.”

“Oh, is that how it went?” The teenager glanced up at the sky briefly before he turned towards Prompto and gave him a soft smile. He couldn’t help but notice how the teenager’s eyes also grew soft, and just a bit sad. He could feel his heart go out for this boy. “You’re … Prompto right? We met in Lestallum.” Prompto nodded and the teen’s smile grew wider. (He couldn’t help but think it was a nice look on him, and he wondered how often it happened.) “I kinda walked off before introducing myself. Sorry, that was rude. That name’s Rio, pleased to meet you Prompto.”

“Rio?” He drew out the syllables. The teen, Rio (and how good it was to finally have a name to the face), smiled and nodded. Prompto couldn’t help but grin back. “Well, pleased to meet you too, Rio. So, what brings you here?”

“I just- wanted to talk I guess.” Rio rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and he could only stare at the teen. Talk? About what? “You still headed towards Insomnia?”

Well, that answered that question. Prompto could feel the smile fade from his face. Insomnia and the curse, right, that was why he was on this journey. He sighed and grabbed a stick from off the ground to prod the fire with. “Yep, that’s where the four of us are headed anyways. Thanks for pointing me out the other three, did you know they were headed towards Insomnnia or-“

“-I had a gut feeling.” Prompto frowned, Rio was pointedly not looking at him and his voice was sullen. An uncomfortable silence broken only by the crackling of the fire and the sounds of fighting the distance descended upon them. (Ignis and Gladio had been fighting for a while now hadn’t they? Prompto couldn’t help but worry a bit about them.) “You know, back in Lestallum, you mentioned you didn’t think you would be able to break the curse.” Prompto startled at the sound of Rio’s voice and turned to find the teen looking at him again with his knees pulled tightly against his chest. “Why don’t you think you could break the curse?”

That was what was bothering Rio? He snorted. Prompto would have thought the reason why was obvious, but if the teenager needed it spelled out for him- “I mean the night has been going on for a while now, right?”

“Yeah? And?”

It was clear from the furrowed eyebrows that the teen needed more convincing, so he continued, “so I’m sure _plenty_ of people have tried to break the curse. People who were smarter and stronger than me and probably more deserving besides. If- if they couldn’t break the curse what hope do I have?” Prompto let go of the knee he had been hugging towards his chest and slumped forward. “I know that my dad thought I could do it, but-“ He stopped when he felt a warm hand rest on his back before strong but wiry arms came to wrap around him. Prompto looked up to find Rio hugging him.

“Don’t say that about yourself Prompto,” the teenager said in a soothing tone of voice, his short black brushing against his cheek.  “You said it yourself, right? Your dad believed in you so you should believe in yourself too.” The teenager squeezed his eyes shut and Prompto felt the arms hold him even tighter. Unsure hands reached up to lightly embrace Rio back and he felt a warm breath tickle the nape of his neck in return. “I believe in you too, Prompto. Other people wanted to break the curse for selfish reasons, for honor and glory and promises of power, but you-“ Rio pushed himself back to stare into his eyes, the soft expression returning to the teen’s face once again. “-you are doing it without regards for yourself, you’re doing it _just_ to bring the day back to the world. If anyone deserves to break the curse, I think it would be you.” Rio paused for a moment and tilted his head to the side as if the firelight had illuminated something in him he hadn’t seen before. “In fact, I think you’re the most deserving of all the people who have tried so far.”

“Me?” His voice came out as a squeak, he couldn’t help it. Prompto was the most deserving person? Now, they hadn’t known each other for very long, so maybe that was why Rio had so much faith in him, but Prompto could probably find at least five more worthy people in the next town or outpost they stopped in.

“Yes, you, why do you find that so surprising.” Rio removed his hands from around Prompto and moved as if to back away when he stopped. The teen stared at Prompto with an unreadable expression before nodding to himself. “Oh, let me tell you a secret.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want you to go around telling everyone else this, I trust Iris and Gladio though so you can tell them, but, um, the prince is sleeping right now thanks to the curse. If you want to break it, and bring the day back, you need to give him a kiss of true love.” Rio rubbed the back of his neck like he was embarrassed saying it before he gave Prompto a weak grin and walked away.

“True love,” he asked himself in confusion as he watched Rio walk into the darkness away from the haven.

“Found Gladdy’s secret stash of romance novels did you?” Prompto screamed when he turned around to find Iris walking up to him while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “I thought I heard you talking outside, couldn’t sleep?”

“No I was just talking to Ri-“ Prompto turned around but the teen from before was nowhere to be found. Confused, he stared down the direction he had last seen Rio, but there was nothing of the teen to be found. Huh, maybe Rio as a really fast walker? “-huh, I could have sworn he was here a second ago.”

“Yeah? Strange that someone would have followed us all the way out here, and yours was the only voice I heard outside the tent.” Iris poked Prompto in the side before she took the chair that Rio had been sitting in. “Sure, you weren’t just imagining someone being there?” She yawned and looked at the fire and then into the distance.

Prompto felt his blood run cold. What did she mean imagining someone being there? He was about to ask her when she pushed herself out of the chair, suddenly awake. “Oh, it seems like Gladdy and Ignis are finally done with the daemons. Wanna go congratulate them on a hunt well done?”

“Y-yeah, sure, sounds like fun.” He followed Iris to where she had taken up a spot on the edge of the haven and was calling out into the distance. Rio was just there. He was sure of it. Rio wasn’t a figment of his imagination.

It was weird that Iris didn’t hear the teen’s voice. Maybe Rio had been talking too quietly for Iris to hear? Or maybe she had been sleeping inside the tent and hadn’t heard the two of them talking? Yeah, that was probably it.

(It had to be, otherwise he was going crazy.)

…

It took a week for them to get to Hammerhead, the last outpost before Insomnia. Ignis had wanted to stop to fill up on gas, and Gladio? Well, Gladio wanted them to stop so they could finalize their plans for their excursion into the former capital. “Insomnia’s different now,” Gladio had said once they were packed into a booth at the local diner. “It’s not the shining, gleaming capital that it once was. Remember the night became endless over Insomnia first and who knows what daemons we’ll encounter within the city proper.”

“The daemons certainly have been bigger and more plentiful the closer we get to the city,” Ignis had added. “If the daemons from the last day are what we can expect just outside the city walls, I’d hate to see what is considered normal inside them.” Iris had looked like she was going to say something when a hunter, overhearing their conversation, had decided to interrupt their conversation by calling them crazy for even considering stepping foot into the former capital. (Didn’t they know everyone had been running away from that damn place in the early days?)

Prompto shuddered as he remembered the daemons Ignis had mentioned. They were big, towering over Gladio even, and surprisingly quick on their feet. It had been a minor miracle that they were able to get away safely, taking down two and then making a run for it when more showed up. He hoped that they wouldn’t encounter anything like that in the city, or, if they did, they would be lucky enough to get away from it safely. That didn’t explain what he was doing out here, in the middle of the “night”, looking across the bridge that lead to Insomnia.

He gulped.

As far as he knew, the other three were sleeping soundly in a caravan back in Hammerhead. Something that Prompto _should_ be doing as well. (Only he hadn’t, he had barely been able to sleep due to sheer nerves and when he was sure everyone was sound asleep, he had slipped out of the bed he shared with Iris and walked out into the cold desert night.)

He was lucky that he hadn’t gotten ruthlessly slaughtered by daemons on the way here. There had been a few close calls, but he had just managed to get here with his body parts intact. Even if his nerves were a little frayed from the long walk here. Prompto stared out into the darkness, the flashlight around his neck the only light he had, and steeled himself to take a step onto the bridge.

“You’re kinda dumb for walking here all alone you know.”

Prompto screamed and nearly tripped over himself at the sudden noise. He caught himself in the nick of time and whirled around to see Rio perched on the thick stone barrier that lined the bridge. The teenager had to gall to smirk down at him. “The fuck dude? Don’t scare me like that!” He caught his breath before he looked back towards the teen whose shoulders were now shaking in barely controlled laugher. Prompto scowled. “Did you just sneak up on me to make fun of me for coming here alone? Because I swear if you did-”

“-no, I just found it weird that you decided to ditch the other three to walk here alone.” Rio shook his head before he jumped off the stone and walked towards him. “I mean if you were in a car, it would have been easier on your feet and if you were foolhardy enough to walk all the way here, I’d have hoped you would have at least woke Gladio.” Rio came to a stop right in front of Prompto and looked up at him with wide, guileless eyes hidden behind a set of plain black-rimmed glasses. “Big guy could have taken down the daemons on the way here and might have saved you some trouble you were having with them.”

“Aww, did you follow me all the way here because you were worried about me?”

Rio shrugged before and turned his head in the direction of the city. “If that’s what you want to tell yourself.” He took a step towards the city before he looked back at Prompto in confusion. “Aren’t you coming with me? I thought you were headed towards Insomnia.” The teen grinned when he saw Prompto follow after him and confidently walked down the bridge.

Prompto couldn’t help but admire him. The guy was younger than him, didn’t have a light source of any kind of him, but was walking down the bridge like he owned the place (and didn’t care for any daemons that could be potentially lurking in the shadows).

“It’s a shame that you can’t see anything in the darkness,” Rio said once they had covered a fair distance along the bridge. “But you’re a photographer right? You would have liked the view it would have made.”

“Yeah?” Prompto slowed to a stop to see if he could make anything out beyond the ivory stone around them, but he couldn’t. Disappointed, he raced to catch up with Rio when he noticed the teen had walked far ahead of him in that short time.

“Yep. Insomnia is on its own little island so from across the strait the first thing you would have seen was the green shores of the island and then the city walls. On a good day you could even see the tops of the skyscrapers rise above the walls. Sunsets and sunrises were always the best time to take everything in. You can’t see them now, and they’re not on, but there’s these fancy iron street lamps that line the bridge all the way up to the outer wall. Watching the sky go from blue to red while those lamps turned on one by one, well, it’s kinda magical.”

Rio had a way with words. From his description alone he could almost picture what the bridge would have looked like in the daytime. The edges of his lips curled up in a wry grin. “Heh, it does sound kinda nice. Also sounds like _someone_ has seen it before.” He jogged up so he was by Rio’s side and turned his head towards the teen who was looking away almost bashfully. “So, you from Insomnia often then? Sounds like you liked coming here during the sunsets if you could describe them so clearly.”

The teen rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, uh, something like that. It was nice-” The pair froze when they heard a low snarl from somewhere behind them. Almost simultaneously they turned back to see a daemon on all fours crawl towards them, its facial features barely distinguishable, except for the mouth full of sharp teeth coated in thick saliva. Rio gulped and nudged Prompto behind him.

“Prompto?”

“Yeah?” He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the daemon as it stalked closer and closer to them.

“Run.”

Prompto could barely react before he was shoved roughly in the direction of the city and Rio was diving towards the daemon. A sword he hadn’t seen before was suddenly visible in the teen’s hand. He felt hands grab onto his forearm and yank him roughly away from the daemon (and away from Rio). “Run you idiot,” Iris’ familiar voice sounded in his ear. “You don’t want that thing to catch up to you.” Prompto didn’t even give himself the time to wonder what Iris was doing there before he turned and ran towards the walls of a city he could not see. Iris keeping pace at his side.

He closed his eyes and hoped that Rio was safe when the snarls turns into shouts and roars. (Prompto could only hope the teen was okay.)

…

They were catching their breath against one of the many stone and glass buildings in central Insomnia when Prompto turned towards Iris. “What are you doing here?”

Iris frowned but didn’t look towards him, her eyes trained on what little they could see of the streets instead. “I heard you get up in the middle of the night and wondered what you were doing.”

“You heard me get up? I thought you were asleep!”

Iris shrugged. “Eh, my brother and I are both light sleepers. I’m surprised you didn’t wake Gladdy, but I guess he was tired from all those daemons he and Ignis have been fighting.”

Prompto stared at the building opposite them. It was hard to make out in the darkness, the light from the flashlight barely illuminating much of anything, but he thought he could make out the little details in its stonework. The curve of what could be a leaf or a flower of some sort. He squinted at it. “And what if I had gotten up to take a piss?”

“Then I would have let you be and waited for you inside the caravan. What? Did you think I would have watched you the entire time?” Iris looked from side to side before she grabbed onto Prompto’s wrist and gently tugged him to one side. “Come on, I think I know where we are and where to go.”

“Uh,” he couldn’t help but say as he stumbled after her, trying his best to not twitch in the unnatural silence of the city. (It was _eerie_ how quiet it was. It would have been one thing if it was crawling with daemons, but to hear and see nothing? Like everything living had decided to desert it one day? Creepy.) “Where are we going again?”

Iris stopped and turned to give him a flat look, one eyebrow arched, before she gave an annoyed huffed and looked away. “We are going to the citadel. You’re trying to break the curse on the prince right? The prince would have been in the citadel, it was the last place that he was se-” Whatever she was going to say was cut off from a shriek, and it wasn’t hard to see what had caused it. There was a daemon with its claws raised as if to attack them just standing there in the middle of the street. Prompto screamed when he saw it and pulled Iris towards him, ready to get clawed from the thing, except- nothing happened.

Prompto looked at it with wide eyes. It seemed to be looking at something just behind him, but wasn’t otherwise reacting. The daemon just stood there, in the middle of the street, claw raised as if to attack someone, but it didn’t move even though they were just standing there in front of it.

“I think it’s frozen,” Iris managed to say when she was finally able to turn around and look at the thing. “I don’t think it’s going to hurt us but-” Iris quickly tugged Prompto away and continued down the street, and it didn’t take much prompting to get him to follow after her. “Don’t want to stick around to find out.”

Prompto didn’t want to stick around to find out either. Even then, he couldn’t help but turn to glance behind him, fearful of what he would see. (Fearful of menacing red eyes staring back at him.) The daemon still stood there, frozen in the middle of the street with one arm raised to attack whoever was facing it, but it didn’t turn towards them. He shivered and looked back towards Iris with a frown. “Frozen? How? That thing looks like its ready to attack something but it didn’t attack us and-”

“-I heard that when the night fell over Insomnia some weird things started happening. Apparently, anyone who didn’t get out of the city in time just started falling asleep in the middle of whatever they were doing.” Iris gave a nonchalant shrug, and he would almost have believed she wasn’t affected by what they had seen if it wasn’t for the slight tremor in her arms and how tightly she was grabbing onto his wrist. “Some people poked around Insomnia after the night became endless and, it was the weirdest thing, they said they saw people slumped against vending machines and the like as if they were going to buy something but they were asleep. Whole classes full of children asleep in their seats and their teacher sleeping against the chalkboard, almost like the night had put them to sleep instead of- you know becoming endless and bringing daemons with it and whatnot. I just-” Iris shuddered. “-didn’t think the daemons would be affected by it too.”

“Well, I’d say that it seems they were affected. Maybe it didn’t put them to sleep but-”

“-it froze them in place? Yeah, kinda wonder what’ll happen to them once the curse is broken. Hopefully, it won’t unfreeze them.”

Prompto felt a shiver travel down his spine at the thought. Unfreeze them? Now that would be horrible. To have everyone wake up to a city full of daemons, he didn’t want to even think about it. “Yeah, hopefully, it’d be awful if it did. Imagine just waking up and there’s a daemon on top of you? Yelch, I don’t even wanna think about it-”

“-yeah, me either.”

They walked in silence through streets empty of people and, thankfully, empty of daemons. Only the sound of their footsteps against pavement and their breathing could be heard. Not even the wind blew past their ears as they traveled through quiet streets devoid of life. It was like the city was sleeping, and holding its breath for the right moment. (It was like the city was dead, and they were the only ones alive.)

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a building that seemed to stretch endlessly upwards into the dark, the flashlight only able to illuminate the first few stories or so. “We’re here,” Iris said, finally letting go of Prompto’s hand. “The citadel. Center of Insomnia and where the seat of government used to reside before, well-” She shot a weak grin towards Prompto. “Ready to wake your prince up, Prompto?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

They ascended the stone steps together in somber, but companionable, silence.

…

Iris had been the one to suggest they split up when they didn’t find the prince inside his quarters. She had also been the one to stare at him when he wondered about getting lost and press his phone into his hands. “Well, good thing I thought to bring this with me didn’t I,” she had said before she shoved him off down one of the many winding corridors inside the building. “Just call if you find him, I’ll do the same likewise.” And then she had disappeared down another hallway without so much as a good luck.

Which was what lead to his current situation, wandering the halls of the citadel, completely and totally lost. (He had peeked inside each room he had passed in the beginning, but despaired of finding the prince when he noticed sleeping people that did not look to be the prince in each room he looked in.)

Prompto looked down at his phone and frowned. He didn’t even know what the prince looked like. He could faintly remember a newspaper clipping of the crown prince when he was eight but that was when he was _eight_. The prince wouldn’t have been eight now! He sighed and wondered if he should call Iris to ask about the prince, even if he felt silly for doing it.

Prompto looked up from his phone to the hallway he was standing in. Right, call Iris if he found the prince. He didn’t even know where he was, he was doubtful that having a phone on him was suddenly going to make him any less lost than he currently was. He sighed heavily.

“Sounds like someone’s lost.”

Prompto turned at the sound of the voice and brightened when he saw who it was. Rio! He made it back safely. There was a similarly bright grin on the teen’s face when their eyes met. “Oh, someone’s glad to see me aren’t they?”

Rio didn’t get the chance to make another snarky remark when Prompto ran up to him and hugged him tightly. “I thought you were a goner when we left you behind like that,” he admitted to the teen, whose expression immediately softened. “One person against a big daemon? I don’t care how good you were with a sword, even _Gladio_ would have had trouble against a daemon like that.”

“Yeah, about that-” Prompto pulled back waiting for the teen to clarify but he never did. Rio was looking away from him with a faint flush on his cheeks. “-um, I’m kinda familiar with this place, so, uh, if you’re actually lost I could probably help with that.”

“My knight in shining armor here to save the day.” He clasped his hands together and fluttered his eyes at the teenager whose face seemed to grow redder at the remark. “You’re the best, dude, really. But, uh-” he unclasped his hands and scratched the side of his face “-actually, I’m looking for the prince, so I’m not sure that’s really something you can help me with.”

“The prince?” Rio’s head shot up to meet his, before he furrowed his brows and he peeked inside a nearby room. “Um, you mean the guy encased in crystal over there?”

“Encased in crystal- wait where?” Prompto nearly crushed Rio into the doorway in his haste to look into the room the teen was currently peering into. His mouth dropped open when he saw the man asleep atop the bench, encased in a clear pinkish purple crystal. “Holy shit, I think that’s him.” He walked into the room as if entranced. In the doorway, unseen by Prompto. Rio looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. The teen’s expression hidden by the shadows.

Prompto wasn’t sure what he expected when he touched the crystal encasing the prince and nothing happened. He tapped the cool surface lightly, nothing. He blew on the crystal above the prince’s face, still nothing. Hysterically, he wondered if he was supposed to kiss the crystal, but that couldn’t be it right? Wasn’t the curse supposed to be broken by true love’s kiss? So how- He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned around to see that Rio had crept up on him. “Hey,” the teen said. “You okay?”

“I- I’m-” He felt his eyes begin to prickle and he roughly squeezed them shut before he could start actually crying. “I’m not- it’s not-”

Rio pulled him into a hug and rocked him back and forth. “Shh, it’s going to be okay Prompto. Shhh.”

“It’s not going to be okay! I’m not the one who’s meant to break the curse, I mean-” He sniffled as the prickling in his eyes only grew worse, and his voice began to shake. “-just look at me. I’m nothing special. That’s the prince and-” He felt hands press against his face and Rio was looking at him with those wide eyes of his. They shone with determination and pride and anger.

“You’re the one, Prompto,” the teen said to him, voice steady and calm. “You’re the one that’s meant to break the curse Prompto. You and no one else.”

“How can you be sure?” His voice came out as a whine and he hated it, but he couldn’t stop speaking (just like he couldn’t stop the tears from falling). “How can you be so sure it’s me? The crystal won’t even react to me and if I’m supposed to be giving the prince a kiss of true love then why-”

His breath hitched as Rio moved his face closer to his. There was a smirk on his face, but his eyes- oh his eyes were soft and bright with unspeakable emotion. “Trust me, I have a gut feeling it’s meant to be you.” The teen pressed their lips together and the room seemed to glow. A warmth filled his body and when he looked to Rio, the teen was shimmering with a golden light. “Oh,” Rio said as he broke the kiss. “That’s why-” He never got to finish his sentence. The teen’s body shimmered and glowed and, before it burst into a million sparkles, he saw his face shift into that of the prince’s.

Prompto’s eyes went wide as the mirage broke and he was alone in the room. Alone with a prince encased in crystal except- He looked back and saw the crystal melt, for lack of better word, away from the prince as the sparkles fell down upon it. Wordlessly, he ran a knuckle down the prince’s cheek and something in him broke when he heard the sigh and saw the prince blink himself awake. “Where-” Prompto didn’t let him finish the question.

Behind them, dawn broke across Lucis as they shared a gentle kiss in the room overlooking the gardens, and Insomnia woke from a nightmare that had been never ending.

**Author's Note:**

> .... _aaaaand_ that's a wrap for this little series of mine, hope you enjoyed it.  
> (Don't ask about timelines for this fic, because I'm not sure how the timelines work out either |D)


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